This past Saturday IFABthe body that sets the rules of football around the world, held its 138th annual meeting in Scotland and apart from ‘parading’ the blue card which initially would punish excessive protests by temporary expulsion, adopted other decisions of which one stands out: the trial of the so-called ‘calm breaks’ at moments of maximum tension during a match.
What are calm breaks and what do they consist of? These are the million dollar questions. It is a decision that will be accepted in those moments when the referee considers that the atmosphere between the two teams is becoming too heated, endangering the normal development of the match.
At this point, you will have the power to send each team to their place, to separate the players from each side until the nerves are ‘under control’ again. Something like ‘thinking corner’ where many parents send their children in moments of ‘rebellion’. How long do these ‘calm breaks’ last? This is another unanswered question so far.
This initiative, like the limitations captain the ability to communicate with the referee ‘in certain situations’ and the ability increased to eight seconds (until now six seconds) the time that goalkeepers can keep the ball at risk of passing it into the opposing team’s possession, has been approved by the IFAB as a rehearsal. And they will be applied to national competitions from the third category of each country, with priority to grassroots football.
They are the lastinventions‘ from an IFAB that saw FIFA itself shoot down its blue card project 24 hours before its debate in the Scottish assembly.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
